The evolution of education graphic with comments by Bruno Comby - France

Here is a simple statement about the evolution of education since 1970. It applies very well to Europe and North America.

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Comments by Bruno Comby Founder – President Environmentalists for Nuclear International France Website: www.ecolo.org August 14, 2019 Bruno Comby (l) with internationally renowned environmentalist James Lovelock (r).

The graphic about evolution of education is absolutely correct, and so sad...

France used to have an excellent mathematics level and education system from kinder garten to university and elite schools.

But, as in every developed country, the general level of education is constantly decreasing, exactly as illustrated in this explicit drawing.

I can see this degradation getting worse and worse year after year with students today and compare it to what the situation was when I was a student, from 1963 to 1985.

A huge change.

The root causes are : Bad life habits : inadequate nutrition, when not smoking, alcoholism and drugs, insufficient education rules, insufficient sleep duration, insufficient life rules in general 2

(such as nutrition rules, obeying adults rules, and sleep rules as a fundamental base), false educational and psychological theories, corrupt short term politics, the succession of political egos (each new Minister of education wants to give his name to a new educational theory that usually consists in criticizing and suppressing some of the previous rules and obligations, pretending the interest of children and education is their new vision in the name of apparently good principles such as liberty, self-esteem...), the demise of family and parents towards their role as educators (they now tend to subdelegate completely their primary role as educators to schools), the lack of courage and self-investment of school teachers towards their teaching role (many or most teachers now teach mainly if not only to get a pay-cheque and salary at the end of the month, not because they’re conscious and proud of their important role as a teacher to educate children), the mirage of non-violent education leading to an absence of or insufficient rules, the lack of discipline at all levels (students, parents, teachers, politicians), false ideologies such as socialism (thinking that all students are or should be equal in their scholar results and careers).

As a result of this context, the main occupation of students has evolved from alternating school work, lessons, resting periods, socializing with friends and cousins, homework and physical activities to having more fun with friends and less work time and sleep duration, to watching TV passively several hours a day sitting passively in a sofa eating unhealthy chips and drinking sodas and coca cola (if not smoking or binge drinking alcohol) to now lying on a bed or sofa all day playing highly negative and agressive video games or on-line games almost 24/24, thus creating a large amount of unnecessary mental stress/loss of energy / useless adrenaline, physical inertia and passivity, constant fatigue, mental distraction, inability to concentrate on anything, always poorer educational contents, all in a violent and selfish mental environment, engendering various behavioral and social disorders without (or with little) useful mental and physical training and activity.

More discipline, stricter life rules and returning to good old solid and simple education methods and rediscovering fundamental values and principles such as work and efforts are necessary.

Very young Tibetan school children diligently doing math homework in Lhasa, 1996. Photo, John Shanahan.

There are good schools in many places, just not nearly enough to suceed in the modern world

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